The Assessment of Intelligence

Intelligence TestDefinition Intelligence tests attempt to measure your intelligence—that is,

your basic ability to understand the world around you, assimilate its functioning, and apply this knowledge to enhance the quality of your life.

Intelligence tests are psychological tests that are designed to measure a variety of mental functions, such as reasoning, comprehension, and judgment.

Purpose The goal of intelligence tests is to obtain an idea of the person's

intellectual potential. The tests center around a set of stimuli designed to yield a score based on the test maker's model of what makes up intelligence. Intelligence tests are often given as a part of a battery of tests.

Advantages In general, intelligence tests measure a wide variety of human behaviors better than any other measure that has been developed.

They allow professionals to have a uniform way of comparing a person's performance with that of other people who are similar in age.

These tests also provide information on cultural and biological differences among people.

Intelligence tests are excellent predictors of academic achievement and provide an outline of a person's mental strengths and weaknesses.

Many times the scores have revealed talents in many people, which have led to an improvement in their educational opportunities.

Teachers, parents, and psychologists are able to devise individual curricula that matches a person's level of development and expectations.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Intelligence Assessments.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Intelligence Assessments.Disadvantages

Some researchers argue that intelligence tests have serious shortcomings. For example, many intelligence tests produce a single intelligence score.

This single score is often inadequate in explaining the multidimensional aspects of intelligence.

Another problem with a single score is the fact that individuals with similar intelligence test scores can vary greatly in their expression of these talents. It is important to know the person's performance on the various subtests that make up the overall intelligence test score.

Knowing the performance on these various scales can influence the understanding of a person's abilities and how these abilities are expressed. For example, two people have identical scores on intelligence tests. Although both people have the same test score, one person may have obtained the score because of strong verbal skills while the other may have obtained the score because of strong skills in perceiving and organizing various tasks.

History of Intelligence Assessment

-Alfred Binet developed the first widely accepted test of intelligence in the early 1900s.

- Alfred Binet and his collaborator, Theodore Simon, became leaders in the intelligence testing movement when they devised the Binet-Simon test.

-Binet’s original purpose was to develop an objective method of identifying those truly lacking in academic ability.

-Like any others of the day, Binet and Simon regarded intelligence as a “faculty” that was inherited, although they also spoke of it as affected by training and opportunities.

Alfred Binet

Theodore Simon

Critiques and Controversies of intelligence testing

The Mismeasure of Man-A scathing critique book of the intelligence testing movement and the “reification” of the notion of Intelligence by Stephen Gould(1981).

-Gould argued that theorists such as Spearman mistakenly accorded general intelligence or g, the status of a true entity because of their misunderstanding of analytic techniques.

The Bell Curve -is a highly controversial book by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, first published in 1994.

-It argues that intelligence is the most dominant factor in the trajectory of each person's life, and it serves to predict such things as socioeconomic status and tendencies towards criminal behavior.

The Concept of Intelligenc

e

What is Intelligence?There is no universally accepted definition of intelligence. Its nature and origin are elusive, creating a long history of disagreement to which where it was constituted. However, many definitions of intelligence emphasize the ability to think abstractly, the ability to learn, and the ability to adapt to the environment.

The Concept of Intelligence

The Concept of Intelligence

Reliability and ValidityReliability - with regard to psychological tests, reliability refers to the consistency with which the individuals respond to test stimuli.

There are several ways of evaluating reliability.1. test-retest reliability – the extent to which an individual makes

similar responses to the same test stimuli on repeated occasions.

2. equivalent-form reliability – equivalent or parallel forms of the test are developed to avoid clients rehearsing between testing occasions or show practice effect.

3. split-half reliability – a test is divide into two halves (usually odd-numbered items vs. even-numbered items), and participants’ scores on the two halves are compared.

4. internal-consistency reliability – involves computing the average of all possible split-half correlations for a given test.

5. interrater or interjudge reliability – with the goal to demonstrate that independent observers can agree about their ratings or judgments of some particular aspect of the person’s behavior

The Concept of Intelligence

Validity -refers to the extent to which an assessment technique measures what it is suppose to measure.

The Concept of IntelligenceLike reliability there are different forms of validity:

1. Content validity – the degree to which test items adequately measure all aspects of the construct of interest.

2. Predictive validity – the degree to which test scores can predict(correlate with) behavior or test scores that are observed or obtained at some point in the future.

3. Concurrent validity – the extent to which test scores correlate with scores on other relevant measures administered at the same time.

4. Construct validity – the extent to which test scores are correlated with other measures or behaviors in logical and theoretically consistent way.

Theories of

Intelligence

Theories of IntelligenceCharles Spearman (1972)- the father of factor analysis.-posited the existence of a g factor (general intelligence) and s factors (specific intelligence)- “g” the term introduced by Spearman to describe his concept of a general intelligence- g factor represents the elements that tests have in common.- s factor represents the elements unique to a given test.

Raymond B. Cattell (1987)- Emphasized the centrality of g.-offered a tentative list of 17 primary ability concepts.-Described two important second-order factors that seem to represent a partitioning of Spearman’s g into two components:

a. Fluid ability – the persons genetically based intellectual capacity.

b. Crystallized ability – refers to the capacities obtained through culture-based learning.

Theories of IntelligenceL. L. Thurstone- A critic of Spearman’s g.- Suggested seven clusters of Primary Mental Abilities: numerical ability ,word fluency, verbal meaning, perceptual speed, reasoning, and memory.

Guilford (1967)-Proposed the Structure of the Intellect (SOI) Model. -Reasoned that the components of intelligence could be organized into three dimensions: operations, content, and products.

SOI

Theories of IntelligenceGardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences -The human intellectual competence involves a set of problem-solving skills that enable the person to resolve problems of difficulties.Gardner suggest that there is a family of six intelligences: Linguistic, Musical, Logical-mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, and Personal (intrapersonal and interpersonal)

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence- Maintains that people function on the basis of three

aspects of Intelligence:a. Component - refers to analytical thinking; high scores would

characterize the person who is a good test-taker.b. Experiential – relates to creative thinking and characterizes the

person who can take separate elements of experience and combine them insightfully.

c. Contextual – is seen in the person who is “street smart”—one who knows how to play the game and can successfully manipulate the environment.

The IQ

The Intelligence Quotient(IQ)This is a mathematical formula that is supposed to be a measure of a person's intelligence.

Ratio IQ-Stern(1938) developed the concept of intelligence quotient (IQ) to circumvent several problems that had arisen in using the difference between the chronological age (CA) and the mental age (MA)to express deviance.

Deviation IQ-Wechsler introduced the concept of deviation IQ.-The assumption is made that intelligence is normally distributed throughout the population .- a deviation IQ then involves a comparison of an individuals performance on IQ test with that of his or her age peers.

The Clinical Assessment

of Intelligence

The Clinical Assessment of IntelligenceThe Stanford-Binet Scales

-For many years, the Binet scales were the preferred tests. They underwent many revisions after Binet’s work in 1905. The most recent revision of the scale appeared in 1986, the Standford-Binet Fourth Edition, or Sb-4.

The Standford-Binet Fourth Edition (SB-4) contains four general classes of items, and each class consists of several kinds of sub-tests:

1. Verbal Reasoning – vocabulary, comprehension, absurdities, and verbal relations.

2. Quantitative Reasoning - quantitative, number series, equation building.

3. Abstract/Visual Reasoning - pattern analysis, copying, matrices, paper folding and cutting.

4. Short-term Memory – bead memory, memory for sentences, memory for digits, memory for objects.

Let’s have a stretch for 5 minutes

The Clinical Assessment of Intelligence

The Wechsler ScalesDavid Wechsler published the Wechsler-Bellevue

Intelligence Scale in 1939. Subsequent revisions of this test have become the most widely used techniques to assess intellectual functioning.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition- The most recent revision of WAIS that was introduced in 1997- An adult intelligence test comprised of both verbal scale and a performance scale, each of which consists of several subtests.- The WAIS-III yields a verbal IQ, a Performance IQ, and a full scale IQ, in addition to Index scores - The seven major IQ: Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, Full Scale IQ, Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Working Memory, and Processing Speed.

The Clinical Assessment of IntelligenceFollowing are brief description of the 14 WAIS-III subtests. The First seven constitute the Verbal Subtests; the other seven are the Performance subtests.

1. Vocabulary - Here, the examinee must define words that increase in difficulty.

2. Similarities – This subtest consists of 19 items, and for each one, the examinee must explain how two objects are alike. Ex. Space-Time

3. Arithmetic – these 20 items are similar to Arithmetic problems on most textbooks. The items are administered orally, and the examinee is not allowed to use paper and pencil.

4. Digit span – This subtest is a measure of short-term memory and attention. Two sets of digits are read aloud by the examiner. For the first list, the examinee must repeat the digits in order that they were read. For the second list, the digits must be repeated backwards.

The Clinical Assessment of Intelligence

5. Information - these 28 items tap knowledge that one would be expected to have acquired as a result of everyday living and cultural interactions .

Ex. Who is Confucius?Where does turpentine come?

6) Comprehension – These 28 items measure common sense and practical judgment in solving a problem.

7) Letter-Number Sequencing – A combination of numbers and letters is read, and the examinee must first recall the numbers in ascending order and then the letters in alphabetical order.

8) Picture Completion – consists of 25 colored cards, each showing a picture with a part missing. The examinee must identify the missing part.

5. Digit Symbol-Coding – This code-substitution task requires the examinee to fill the appropriate code in the blanks under a long series of numbers, using a key.

6. Block design – The examinee must assemble blocks to match the designs on a set of cards.

11. Matrix Reasoning – Consists of items that measure visual information processing and abstract reasoning skills.

12. Picture Arrangement – Several sets of picture must be arranged in proper sequence to tell a coherent story.

11. Symbol Search – The task is to indicate whether a stimulus symbol appears in array that is present.

12. Object Assembly – Five puzzles must be assembled. This subtest requires the ability to visualize a whole from its parts and to plan ahead, along with a certain degree of visual-motor coordination.

The Clinical Assessment of Intelligence

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV)-Published in 2003.-Appropriate for children ages six through 16 years.-Consists of ten core and five supplementary subtests.

The WISC-IV has a hierarchical structure in which individual subtests define four major indices that comprise the Full Scale IQ

The Clinical Use of Intelligence Tests

The estimation of General Intellectual Level- The most obvious use of an intelligence test is as a

means for arriving at an estimate of the general intellectual level. The patient’s intellectual potential can form a baseline against which to measure current achievements, thus providing information about the patient’s current level of functioning.

Prediction of Academic Success- Not everyone would equate intelligence with scholastic

aptitude, but the fact remains that a major function of intelligence tests is to predict school performance. One must remember, however, that intelligence and academic success are not conceptually identical.

The Clinical Use of Intelligence Tests

The Appraisal of Style- One of the major values of individual intelligence tests

is that they permit the us to observe the patient or client at work. Such observations can help us greatly in interpreting IQ.

End of Chapter 7